so i'm buying a boat this year but where my cottage is, is very shallow, and fairly rocky. my parents are really going towards a jet boat (no prop) so its clear from rocks, and doesn't need to much draw

anyone in my situation ?

even if you don't have my problem could anyone tell me what boats give you your best wakes (i'm not looking for massive, just solid and stuff)

Im not in your situation and i dont have a boat, but I read a review about the sea doo wake boat and they said it had a really good wake if youre up to an intermediate-advanced rider. so if your parents are going for a jet boat, show them that one!!

you're not going to get a reasonable wake from a jetboat - not even if they're calling it a 'wake' boat! can you get a jetty or dock built over the shallow part? you'd be able to have fun behind a jet boat, but you'll definitely struggle trying to get any air. is the whole lake shallow? do other people wakeboard there?

I agree with the others. If it is that shallow then you do need a jet boat. I have know plenty of people that ski and board behind them, but as said you do not get as much pop, but you can still have fun. I would be curious as to how shallow the water is and for how long of a distance is it shallow. If it is shallow for a long period then I would not even wanna board. If it is that shallow to where you have to have a jet, then think about when you fall while you are boarding or something.

Everyone on here has brought up good points with the shallow water. One other thing is that if the water is that shallow since jet boats work on a pump system you will be sucking up tons of junk into the motor and be quickly put in the shop. If you can't use an I/O safely it probably isn't a safe depth to board either.

when i said shallow - i meant maybe 15-25 from shore. I'm worried because where my dock is, is only about 3-5 feet of water. i can ofcourse get out deeper, it's just docking that might make for a problem.

what does everyone ride behind?

also - my family wants more of an all purpose boat ( mainly wakeboarding) rather than like a air nautique type - which is ALL for wakeboarding.

Docking is going to be the problem. Is it possible to pull it into the end of a long pier/dock and then just turn it off and pull it to the lift with a rope?

Is your family a bunch of serious competitive skiers? If they are more casual they won't notice a huge difference between a v-drive wake boat and a regular anything else. Yeah the wake is a little bigger when you take out the ballast, but it's not crazy/scary big. I've skied behind our '06 malibu VLX with no issues. I've seen people run a darn good slalom run behind a nautique 210 hull (even had a few hundred in lead in it still).

If you're the serious wakeboarder and the main user, go for the wake boat. Let the casual skiers use it, they probably won't complain. If you're trying to run a course with someone who knows what they're doing, you might want to consider alternatives like a malibu with the diamond hull.

I'd say get the wake boat if you can figure out how to dock it, but 15' is PLENTY of water.

Do not buy a Sea Doo, YOu can get a 2002 boat for the price of a sea doo.. find out the depth exactly of the lake. If anything malibu, centurion, or x-2's, even a Tige. can be in shallow water. You just cant weight the boat down!

brooke you may have got the wrong idea - i meant i don't get deep water for atleast 15-25 ft out from shore. but what you said is great help.

my family aren't necessarily serious skiers, or boarders, they just want a boat that they can use for fishing, small trips and what not. I on the other hand am trying to convince them because i am a serious boarder.

Lauren, we have an 06 Centurion Avalanche and it is great, throws a great wake for the boarder with the tanks full and also is still great for skiing as well. We have both in our family and it works for the both. We are on the Colorado river and there are spots where it gets really shallow. I would definatly suggest getting a depth finder in the boat. We have one in ours and it is great for those hard to see spots. We have been in water that shows 2 feet deep and we are ok. We just drive really slow and dont cause motion in the boat.

Once you get past that 15-20 feet how deep is is from there? I think you would be ok with a v-drive i/o as long as after that 15-20 foot point that is defiantly gets a lot deeper deeper. Just for that first 15-20 feet take it slow.

We had a time on Lake Havasu where when the water was low we came across a sand bar thingy out of nowhere (thanks to the depth finder and the water color change) and we all got out of the boat and walked it thru until we were free of the shallow water.

I was in 2 to 3 ft deep water all day on Sat with no problem. So were a ton of other boats. We had a pretty big line of boats all tied up and the people on the ends went right up close to the shore. No problems. I agree with Brooke. 3-5 ft of water is plenty. Just empty the ballasts and go slow.